Winston Aldworth: New year, new resolutions

Places like South America are rising on Kiwis' travel radars. Photo / Thinkstock

They say the best way to deal with the awful pain of returning to work after a nice holiday is to start planning your next holiday.

Another way of dealing with Post-Holiday Trauma Syndrome would be to have a job you quite like doing - but we'll leave that dreary subject for the Career section; here in the Travel department, we reckon escapism cures all ills. So, for 2013, we've had a fresh redesign and we're sharpening our focus on the places Kiwis go and introducing new content: that means plenty of the Pacific, Australia and holidays within New Zealand.

We'll also dive into Europe - a magnet for New Zealand travellers - and look at the places rising on the Kiwi travel radar, like China and South America.

So, where to go in 2013?

The Kiwi dollar is strong, so Oz and the Pacific Islands remain attractive - in the year ahead we'll be running stories about these destinations ("Across the Ditch" and "Island Time") every week.

That punchy dollar also means the US is worth a look and, in Ireland, they've picked 2013 as the year for people of Irish descent to pay a visit to the Old Country.

But don't lose sight of the postcard on your doorstep. All around the world, people are adding "visit New Zealand" to their list of travel aspirations for 2013. You've got a head start on them, take advantage of it.